Across the Northwoods - Railroads give businesses a chance to move loads of material for a low cost. Loggers could use rail as an alternative to trucking material, but many businesses don't get that opportunity in the Northwoods anymore.Canadian National bought rail in the Northwoods about a decade ago. They have cut back service drastically since then. Some counties haven't seen train travel in years, which hurts business. Now, those businesses want to reestablish rail service. In response, a group of counties in Northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan formed the Northwoods Rail Transit Commission.
Their goal is to bring back efficient rail to their counties. The group has been working with Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) officials, like Dennis Leong, since forming the group in 2012.Leong believes there is an opportunity to bring back rail to the region based off of the feedback from businesses and local governments."We did a survey of businesses in the Northwoods area and found potentially quite a few business interests in rail," Leong said. "They're meeting with CN (Canadian National) and having discussions, so hopefully maybe certain sections can be brought back to service."Leong wants to help expand rail in the north, but private companies might only re-establish rail if they think they can make money on it."Part of the challenge is that you have to have the volume in which the railroads want to make sure they have an operating system to put back in service," Leong said.Leaders at the Northwoods Rail Transit Commission are trying to win a multimillion dollar federal grant, TIGER, from the U.S. Department of Transportation to get more log cars for rail in the Northwoods. They'll host their monthly meeting Friday at 10 a.m. at the Oneida County Courthouse.Wisconsin has 13 freight railroads using a system of more than 33 hundred mile of rail, according to WisDOT.